The Constitution and The New Republic

The Constitution and The New Republic Chapter 6 – US History

Precedent Mark Spitz set the precedent for Michael Phelps to follow. • An act or statements that becomes a tradition to follow. Most of the traditions of the Executive Branch were established by President George Washington, such as the formation of the Presidential Cabinet, a group of advisors to the President on key issues such as defense and education.

Precedent • What important American is responsible for establishing the precedent of appointing a Presidential Cabinet?

Closure Question #1: Would the federal government have survived if the first President had not had widespread respect? Explain. • The new government started out with huge problems. It had inherited a national debt of $52 million from the Confederation – a huge burden for a nation with a farm economy and only about 3 million people. With no navy and an army of only around 400 men, the United States was not respected by other countries. At New Orleans, the Spanish closed the Mississippi River to American trade. Along the Great Lakes, the British kept forts within American territory. • Fortunately, the new government enjoyed extraordinary leaders. In 1789, the new electoral college unanimously elected George Washington as President of the United States. As a revolutionary leader, Washington enjoyed widespread respect and popularity. Yet he took the difficult job reluctantly. • Massachusetts patriot John Adams was elected Vice President. Washington’s administration, or the officials in the executive branch of the government, began with just himself, Adams, and about a dozen clerks. Besides the newly elected Congress, there were few other federal officers. There were also few set rules to guide the administration. Quickly after taking office, Washington began setting important precedents.

Excise Tax • A tax on the producer of specific goods, commodities, and activities. Faced with high national debt due to the inability of the national government to raise taxes under the Articles of Confederation, George Washington turned to Alexander Hamilton, who was chosen by Washington to serve as the nation’s first Secretary of the Treasury. Current Excise Tax on Alcohol in the USA

Excise Tax • What two products were the first to be taxed by the United States Government?

Whiskey Rebellion (1794) • Uprising of farmers in western Pennsylvania who refused to pay the national excise tax on Whiskey and attacked federal tax collectors. • In response to the rebellion,. Alexander Hamilton led 12,000 militiamen to western Pennsylvania • Faced with a large army the small group of rebels broke, with most running away or staying home. Hamilton’s army arrested 20 suspected rebels, but only 2 were convicted for rebellion.

Whiskey Rebellion • Which member of George Washington’s Presidential Cabinet convinced Washington to raise an army of 12,000 men to put down the Whiskey Rebellion?

Closure Question #2: Why did Hamilton believe that wealthy Americans were necessary to secure the nation’s economic future? • Alexander Hamilton was tasked by President Washington with paying off the young nation’s immense debts and setting it on a course of economic security. Hamilton despised the nation’s agricultural economy as backward. He wanted to quickly develop a commercial and industrial economy that could support a large federal government along with a strong army and navy. He saw the national debt of $52 million and the additional $25 million in debts owed by the individual states as assets. Rather than pay down those debts using cash reserves, he meant to fund them by selling government bonds, which would pay annual interest to the holders. Such bonds delighted investors, who welcomed an opportunity to reap annual profits. • Hamilton saw three great benefits from his system. First, it would establish the nation’s financial credibility, making it easier to borrow money in the future. Second, it would buy political support from the wealthiest Americans, which Hamilton believed was essential for the government’s stability. Third, it would enrich investors, who could then build new ships, wharves, storehouses, and factories. In other words, his plan would promote the accumulation of capital needed for commercial and industrial growth.

Democratic Republican • Political party, established by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, which opposed a strong centralized government. Though unintended by the founders of the country, a two-party political system developed in the 1790s, with the Democratic Republicans opposing the Federalists. Thomas Jefferson, founder of the Democratic Republican Party

Democratic Republican • The Democratic Republican Party was founded by what important American leader?

Closure Question #3: How did American structure their debates about the economy in terms of interpreting the Constitution? • The southern states, which were overwhelmingly agricultural, had done a better job of paying their own debts. Why, southerners wondered, should they pay federal taxes to bail out the northern states? And why should their tax dollars flow into the pockets of creditors in the Northeast? Opposition to Hamilton’s plans grew steadily in the South. • To justify his ambitious programs, Hamilton interpreted the Constitution broadly, relying on its “implied powers” and its clause empowering Congress to enact laws for the “general welfare”. His broad interpretation, or loose construction, appalled his critics, including Jefferson and Madision. They favored a strict construction, or limiting the federal government to powers explicitly granted by the Constitution. They opposed Hamilton’s plans for assuming state debts. Fearing that a national bank would benefit the North at the expense of the South, they also argued that the Constitution did not authorize Congress to charter one.

Closure Assignment #4 • Answer the following questions based on what you have learned from Chapter 6, Section 1: • Would the federal government have survived if the first President had not had widespread respect? Explain. • Why did Hamilton believe that wealthy Americans were necessary to secure the nation’s economic future? • How did American structure their debates about the economy in terms of interpreting the Constitution?

Closure Question #1: Why did the British support Native American resistance to westward expansion in the United States? • Although the United States had gained a vast new territory west of the Appalachians from the Treaty of Paris, the British kept their forts on the American side of the Great Lakes. Hoping to limit American settlement in the Northwest Territory, the British provided arms and ammunition to the Miami Indians and their allies, who were actively resisting American expansion into their lands. In 1790, Native Americans led by the war chief Little Turtle defeated a small force sent by President Washington to stop attacks against settlers. In 1791 in the Ohio Valley, British guns helped a confederation of many Indian nations, again led by Little Turtle, to crush a larger American force commanded by General Arthur St. Clair. • But the tide turned in August 1794 when federal troops led by General Anthony Wayne defeated the Native American confederacy at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, named for the fallen trees that covered the battle site. Wayne’s decisive victory forced the Native Americans to accept his peace terms. In the treaty of Greenville, Native American leaders ceded most of the present state of Ohio to the U.S. government. This also opened the Northwest Territory to settlement.

Closure Question #2: How did American debates about foreign policy in the 1790s reflect the beliefs of the political parties? • In 1789, Americans welcomed news of the French Revolution, a republican uprising in France. Grateful for French help during the American Revolution, Americans now saw the French as fellow republicans in a hostile world of aristocrats and kings. In 1793, however, leaders of the French Revolution began executing thousands of opponents, including the French king and his family. They also declared war on the monarchies of Europe, including Great Britain. • In response, American divided along party lines. The Democratic Republicans regretted the executions but still preferred the French Republic to its monarchial foes. Jefferson regarded the French Revolution as “the most sacred cause that ever man was engaged in.” But the Federalists decided that the French revolutionaries were bloody anarchists out to destroy religion and social order. They suspected that the Democratic Republicans meant to do the same.

XYZ Affair (1796) • In response to French seizure of American merchant ships, President John Adams sent a group of American diplomats to negotiate peace with 3 French officials, known in code as X, Y, and Z. • The French officials demanded that the United States pay $250,000 to France in order to stop conflict. In response, Adams stopped negotiations and told the story to the American public, calling it the XYZ Affair. • The XYZ Affair changed American opinion of France, who had been allies with the United States in the Revolutionary War.

XYZ Affair • How much money did the French government demand as ransom for the American sailors and ships they had stolen?

Alien and Sedition Acts (1798) • Laws passed by the Federalist controlled Congress that authorized the President to arrest and deport immigrants who criticized the federal government and arrest any citizen who publicly criticized the government.

Alien and Sedition Acts • Which American President supported the passing of the Alien and Sedition Acts?

Closure Question #3: Does having a President and Vice President from different parties help or hinder government? Explain. • The Federalist candidate, John Adams, narrowly defeated Thomas Jefferson in the 1796 presidential election. The nation voted along regional lines, with Jefferson winning most of the southern electoral vote and Adams carrying almost all of the northern states. Due to an awkward feature of the Constitution, Jefferson, as the second place finisher, became Adams Vice-President. • Although honest and dedicated, Adams could also be stubborn and pompous. Lacking tact, he made few friends and many enemies. Those foes included Hamilton, who had retired from public office but who tried to control the Federalist Party and the national government from behind the scenes. His meddling weakened the Adams administration. • In two Democratic Republican states, the state legislatures passed controversial resolves in response to the acts. Written by Jefferson and Madison in 1798 and 1799, the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions declared the Sedition Act unconstitutional. The resolves even hinted that states had the power to nullify federal laws that were unconstitutional. Though this doctrine of nullification threatened to dissolve the union, no other state legislatures adopted it.

Midnight Judges • The Judiciary Act of 1801, which was passed shortly before Thomas Jefferson replaced John Adams as President of the United States, reorganized the Federal Court System, creating 6 new circuit courts and 10 new district courts to lighten the case load placed on the Supreme Court. • In establishing these new courts, Adams used his executive authority to appoint Federalists as judges in the new courts. Democratic Republicans viewed these last minute appointments as an effort by Adams to undermine the newly elected Democratic Republican President by “packing the courts” with Federalists.

Midnight Judges • Prior to leaving office, John Adams appointed judges who were loyal to which political party?

Closure Assignment #5 • Answer the following questions based on what you have learned from Chapter 6, Section 2: • Why did the British support Native American resistance to westward expansion in the United States? • How did American debates about foreign policy in the 1790s reflect the beliefs of the political parties? • Does having a President and Vice President from different parties help or hinder government? Explain.

John Marshall (1755-1835) • Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1801 to 1835 and a strong Federalist, Marshall participated in more than 1,000 court decisions, more than any other Supreme Court Justice in U.S. History.

John Marshall • What was John Marshall’s personal connection to Thomas Jefferson?

Marbury v. Madison (1803) • Supreme Court ruling led by John Marshall which established the power of judicial review.

Marbury v. Madison • In the case of Marbury v. Madison, in whose favor did the Supreme Court rule?

Judicial Review • The authority of the Supreme Court to determine if the acts of Congress and the President are permitted by the US Constitution.

Judicial Review • In our current governmental system, which government entity exercises the power to determine whether the acts of the president of legislature are unconsitutional?

Closure Question #1: How did Jefferson view the Supreme Court precedent of judicial review? • In 1803, Marshall first asserted the power of judicial review in the case of Marbury v. Madison. In early 1801, outgoing President John Adams had appointed William Marbury, a Federalist, a justice for the District of Coloumbia. The incoming Secretary of State, James Madison, refused to deliver the official papers of appointment. When Marbury complained to the Supreme Court, Marshall ruled in favor of Madison by declaring unconstitutional part of the Judiciary Act of 1789. • The ruling was a stroke of genius. Marshall gave the Democratic Republicans what they wanted by denying Marbury his appointment. But in doing so, Marshall claimed a sweeping power for the Supreme Court that the Democratic Republicans did not want that Court to have. After all, the Constitution was silent on what institutions should judge the constitutionality of congressional actions. In the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions of 1798, Jefferson and Madison had claimed that power for the state legislatures. Because of Marshall, today we accept that the Supreme Court will review the constitutionality of federal laws.

Bureaucracy • An administrative organization with officials and regular procedures. • Members of the bureaucracy in the United States are appointed by elected officials. • Example: The President’s Cabinet

Bureaucracy • During his presidency, did Thomas Jefferson work to increase or decrease the size of the U.S. government’s bureaucracy?

Louisiana Purchase (1803) • Organized by President Thomas Jefferson, the United States purchased 828,000 square miles of land from France for $15 million dollars.

Louisiana Purchase • In the Louisiana Purchase, the United States gained 828,000 square miles of territory. Name one modern state that is located in the territory of the Louisiana Purchase.- Kansas

Closure Question #2: What was Jefferson’s main reason for purchasing the Louisiana Territory from France? • Jefferson insisted that farm ownership – which freed citizens from dependence on a landlord or on an employer – was essential to the freedom of white Americans. Yet without expansion there would not be enough farms for the rapidly growing population. With the population doubling every 25 years, the nation needed twice as much land every generation to maintain farm ownership. • To get more land, Jefferson wanted the United States to expand to the Pacific – despite the fact that much of the continent was already inhabited by Native Americans and European colonists. At first, Jefferson believed that Spain’s vast Louisiana Territory west of the Mississippi would be easy to conquer. He noted that the Spanish colonists were few, their empire was weak, and they were distracted by the war in Europe. Jefferson’s plans were frustrated when the U.S. got a new and more dangerous neighbor to the west. In 1801, France’s military dictator, Napoleon Bonaparte, had forced Spain to give him the Louisiana Territory. • Jefferson reasoned that he could avoid war by offering to buy New Orleans from the French. When James Monroe and Robert Livingston, the American minister in France, approached Napoleon, they found him surprisingly receptive. Napoleon’s imperial plans had been foiled by slave rebels in the Caribbean colony of Saint Domingue, which is now Haiti. Without a French army to occupy Louisiana, and needing money to fight the British, Napoleon decided to sell all of the Louisiana Territory.

Lewis and Clark • Authorized by President Thomas Jefferson in 1804, Merriwether Lewis and William Clark became the first Americans to explore the territory gained in the Louisiana Purchase, traveling from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean with the help of a Shoshone woman, Sacajawea.

Lewis and Clark • Lewis and Clark began their expedition to explore the west in what modern American city? –St. Louis , Missouri

Sacajawea (1788-1812) • A Shoshone teenager who served as a translator and guide for the Lewis and Clark Expedition in their journey from North Dakota to the Pacific Ocean.

Sacajawea • What was the nationality of Sacajawea’s husband?-British

Impressment • The practice used by the British in the early 1800’s of taking American sailors from their ships and forcing them to serve in the British navy.

Impressment • The British used the practice of impressment to increase the size of their navy in their war with what European country and dictator?-France, Napoleon

Embargo • The stopping of trade with a certain country in order to isolate it and cause its economy to suffer. In response to British aggression against American trading ships, President Jefferson enacted an embargo on all British goods. The United States has had an embargo with Cuba since 1961

Embargo • Did the U.S. embargo on trading with Great Britain help or hurt the economy of the United States?-Hurt

Closure Question #3: What was the impact of the embargo on the American economy? • The United States lacked a navy large enough to challenge the British fleet. Jefferson balked at the high cost of building a bigger navy, which would undermine his policies of reducing the national debt and keeping taxes low. He also worried that a large military would become a threat to the Republic. • As an alternative to war, in 1807 Jefferson persuaded Congress to declare an embargo, suspending trade by ordering American ships to stay in port. He expected the embargo to starve the British and close their factories, creating riots in the streets. Instead, the British found other markets in South America. Meanwhile, the embargo bankrupted American merchants, threw American sailors out of work, and hurt farmers, who could no longer export their crops. Exploiting voter anger, the Federalists gained support in the northern states, especially in New England. • Even Jefferson had to admit failure, lifting the embargo just before he retired from the presidency in 1809. Despite having been easily reelected in 1804, the embargo had caused his popularity to lag. Still, he was succeeded by his friend James Madison, who defeated a Federalist rival in the election of 1808.

Closure Assignment #6 • Answer the following questions based on what you have learned from Chapter 6, Section 3: • How did Jefferson view the Supreme Court precedent of judicial review? • What was Jefferson’s main reason for purchasing the Louisiana Territory from France? • What was the impact of the embargo on the American economy?

Battle of Tippecanoe November 7th, 1811 • American attack on Shawnee Indian settlement of Prophetstown led by William Henry Harrison in response to numerous attacks led by Tecumseh in the Indiana Territory.

Battle of Tippecanoe • The Battle of Tippecanoe occurred in the Native American settlement of Prophetstown, which was located in what modern American state?-Indiana

Tecumseh (1768-1813) • Shawnee Warrior from the Ohio Valley, Tecumseh followed in the footsteps of Joseph Brandt, encouraging Native Americans to return to traditional values and culture and unite against the American invaders.

Tecumseh • In his efforts to unite Native Americans to fight against white settlers, Tecumseh followed in the footsteps of what Native American leader from the Revolutionary War?-Joseph Brandt

War of 1812 • War fought on the North American continent between the United States and Great Britain from 1812 to 1815. • In response to British capture of American ships and merchandise, impressment, and Indian Wars, the United States Congress, with the support of President James Madison, declared war on Great Britain in June of 1812. • The War of 1812 officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent on December 24, 1814. No national borders changed as a result of the war; however, American patriotism increased as a result of the Americans successful defense of their land.

The Constitution and The New Republic